Facebook killer shoots himself dead after police chase

A man who broadcast the fatal shooting of a stranger on Facebook has shot himself after a chase by police.

Steve Stephens was at the centre of a major manhunt after he posted video to social media showing himself murdering Robert Goodwin, 74, who had been walking home from an Easter lunch with his family.

In a separate video he claimed that he had killed 13 people and wanted to kill more victims.

Pennsylvania State Police announced that Stephens had been tracked down by officers and had killed himself after a short chase.

Stephens, 37, had posted video of himself killing Mr Goodwin in an apparently random attack after spotting him while driving in Cleaveland.

He says: "Found me somebody I’m going to kill, this guy right here, this old dude", on a tape which suggests that the murder was inspired by his anger over a failed relationship with an ex-girlfriend.

His elderly victim attempted to shield himself with a plastic bag as the killer raised his gun.

Police launched a national search for the fugitive gunman and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

They said they had not linked him to any other killings aside from Mr Goodwin but warned he was dangerous and "without a doubt" armed.

Officers revealed that the last trace from Stephens' mobile phone placed him in Erie, Pennsylvania - the same district in which he killed himself.

A civilian spotted Stephens at 11am and police began searching for him.

Police said they found him in his car and began a car chase which lasted about two miles.

The police attempted to disable his car and as the vehicle was spinning out of control, Stephens pulled a pistol and shot himself in the head.

Facebook faced strong criticism over its handling of the incident after footage of Mr Goodwin's murder remained online for hours.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg expressed condolences for the victims of the Cleveland shooting during a Facebook Live conference on augmented reality. He said: "We have a lot more to do here. We are reminded of this week by the tragedy in Cleveland.”

He added: "We will keep doing all of what we can to keep tragedies like this from happening.”

Justin Osofsky, Facebook’s vice-president of global operations, said they wee only made aware of the video two hours after it was posted but admitted "We know we need to do better."